Local Legislators Rally for Sports Betting
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By Joe Hart
TRENTON -- First District legislators are among a group leading the effort to allow sports betting in Atlantic City casinos.
The bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Nelson Albano (D-1st) and two others, is aimed at helping the city's casinos, which saw revenues drop 6 percent in 2007 to $4.9 billion. That was the first year revenues decreased since casinos opened in 1978.
Atlantic City casinos are losing visitors from Pennsylvania as that state recently opened several slot parlors of its own.
In a Jan. 24 press release, Albano noted other challenges.
"There are multiple dividends for New Jersey if sports gambling were to be provided at Atlantic City casinos," he said. "With the Super Bowl ten days away, Atlantic City casinos are again losing out as betters flock to Las Vegas. We need to ensure Atlantic City stays on the cutting edge and has a competitive advantage against the new wave of gambling offerings in other states."
The measure passed (8-0) the Assembly Tourism and Gaming Committee on which Albano's legislative partner Matthew Milam (D-1st) sits as vice chairman.
State Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-1st), who chaired that same committee as an Assemblyman, sponsored similar bills in 2004 and 2006 but they both failed.
"It has been difficult in the past and will continue to be a heavy lift, but we think it's one worth making," Van Drew told the Herald.
He noted that the measure has opposition in the legislature, particularly with Senate President Richard Codey (D-27th), but it also faces challenges from the federal government, which regulates sports betting under interstate commerce.
In 1992, a federal law limiting sports betting to Nevada was amended to give New Jersey and four other states an opportunity to put the question before voters. Oregon, Delaware and Montana acted to have sports betting approved, but this state did not.
Van Drew said the federal law has vulnerablilities, however, and New Jersey has a good chance of challenging it in the U.S. Supreme Court if the current state measure can move through the legislature and be approved by voters.
Van Drew said the measure also faced opposition from the National Football League and other professional sports organizations, but calls their opposition hypocritical due to several incidents involving gambling and notable sports figures.
"It is happening illegally all across the State. We are kidding ourselves to think it is not-this latest incident proves that. The professional sport organizations are against legalizing sports betting when their own people are participating in it. I guess it is OK when they are the ones making a profit. We have a major budget problem in this State and all forms of revenue are needed. Why should people breaking the law get all of the benefits while the citizens of New Jersey suffer," said Van Drew.
According to a release, lawmakers said that the availability of legalized sports betting would counteract illegal sports wagering. They noted that in November Attorney General Anne Milgram announce the break-up of a $22 million illegal sports book that operated out of the Borgata Casino. Among the 23 individuals charged, four men had ties to organized crime.
Van drew noted that proceeds from illegal gambling aren't taxed and don't go to help state programs that serve the elderly as those from legal gambling do.
"Organized Crime claps its hands every time this legislation fails," Van Drew said.
Worldwide sports betting is estimated to be approach $400 billion annually and these First District legislators want to see New Jersey get its share.
The sports betting measure now heads to Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-5th), who decides if and when to post it for a floor vote.
Contact Hart at (609) 886-8600 Ext 35 or at: jhart@cmcherald.com
Copyright (c) 2008 Cape May County Herald. All rights reserved.
Students arrested for illegal football gambling in Can Tho
Four university students and a coffee shop owner were arrested on Saturday in the southern province of Can Tho for illegally betting on football matches.
Police raided the Phuong Vu coffee shop in Ninh Kieu District and seized betting slips valued at more than VND700 million (US$43,729) and VND70.4 million ($4,400) in cash.
Shop owner Truong Hieu Vu and Can Tho Province University students Tran Quoc Tuan, Mac Quang Diem, Vo Tan Duy and Pham Van Thang were caught betting on football matches.
Vu told police he'd been running the operation for seven months.
He said most of gamblers were students who put money on domestic and foreign football leagues.
The coffee shop owner allegedly earned more than VND40 million ($2,500) after each round of football.
Can Tho Province police said their investigation was continuing.
Reported by Mai Tram
Copyright (c) 2004 Privacy policy
Rogge plans early-warning scheme to fight corrupt betting
Paul Kelso
Thursday December 13, 2007
The Guardian
The International Olympic Committee is to attempt to forge a unified approach to sports betting across the Olympic disciplines, working with governments and international federations to prevent corruption associated with gambling.
Jacques Rogge, the IOC president, announced yesterday that he will try to introduce an early-warning system to alert sports to suspicious betting patterns before the Beijing Games. The IOC is likely to follow the model pioneered in British sport where numerous governing bodies have memorandums of understanding with the betting companies, including the betting exchange Betfair, that allow the formal sharing of information in suspicious circumstances.
Betfair has such arrangements with football, cricket and rugby, as well as agreements with Uefa and the International Tennis Federation. Information from Betfair is understood to have been pivotal in sparking match-fixing inquiries under way in football and tennis.
Rogge also plans to convene a seminar on the issue of sports betting, to which all Olympic sports will be invited, to discuss the threat posed by illegal gambling.
The meeting is the first step on the road to what Rogge hopes will be a unified system using the template for doping, which saw sports and governments combine to found the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Speaking at the end of the IOC's three-day executive board meeting in Lausanne, Rogge said he was not proposing a "Wada for betting", but said a coordinated response was vital. "I am not speaking about a threat for any particular games, but for sport in general this is something we have to address."
Guardian Unlimited (c) Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
Fallon trial: Miles Rodgers: the gambler
Published Date: 08 December 2007
Location: Yorkshire
By Martin Slack
South Yorkshire businessman Miles Rodgers seemed to be one of the success stories of the region's racing world.
Before the bungled investigation, the 38-year-old was running a very successful racing syndicate business.
He was a self-made businessman, the director of two firms and with a substantial house in Silkstone Common, Barnsley and an expensive car to boot.
As a child Mr Rodgers attended Sheffield's Birkdale School and afterwards became involved in a series of ventures, including the Wombwell Sports and Snooker Club in Wombwell, near Barnsley and the nearby KG Sports and Social Club.
But his passion for gambling started at an early age, going to the greyhounds in Sheffield with his father as a boy, and as his business interests grew, he set up a company in 2001 called the David Nicholls Racing Club with racing trainer David Nicholls.
Also involved was an old friend, Neville Wilson, and his father Leslie, who was also one of Mr Rodgers' co-directors at both Aston Holdings and Cannonhaven. They had around 16 horses in training.
According to Neville Wilson, the club was very successful, despite the fact that Nicholls eventually pulled out and wanted his name removing from the club name.
Undeterred, Mr Rodgers and Mr Wilson carried on, renaming the club Platinum Racing and registering its headquarters as the Pinegrove Country Club in Sheffield. In the end, Mr Wilson said, the club had about 2,500 members.
Mr Rodgers, who describes himself as a 'gambling lunatic' also ran a tipping service called SP Services.
In 2002 Mr Rodgers also began to show an interest in internet betting exchange Betfair and several members of his family and some of his friends allowed him to use their names to set up Betfair accounts.
Thousands of pounds were changing hands and Mr Rodgers was betting on almost anything he could get odds on, risking massive amounts of money on Big Brother, Pop Idol, the Eurovision Song Contest and other events.
The horse racing authorities suddenly announced they had been watching his internet activities and were not happy.
The Jockey Club had been investigating Mr Rodgers' Betfair accounts, and it was claimed that he had laid bets on two of his own club's horses to lose before they were unexpectedly beaten.
He was "warned off", or banned, from the sport by the Jockey Club in March 2004.
The Platinum Racing Club had produced almost 50 winners altogether, but after this it did not field another runner and the company was subsequently dissolved.
It then got worse. Less than six months after he was warned off, he was arrested.
Platinum Racing's headquarters the Pinegrove Country Club also burned down in summer 2004.
Neighbours in Silkstone Common say they know little of Mr Rodgers's business, adding that he seemed like an "ordinary guy who had done well for himself".
His Italian restaurant, Tiamo, is still trading, alongside The Bridge, a newly refurbished pub next door which locals said was owned by Mr Rodgers and run by his partner Joanne Richardson.
Before moving to Silkstone Common, the couple had lived in a substantial bungalow in the nearby village of Thurgoland.
This week at their detached, stone-built farmhouse his partner said the past year had been nothing short of a nightmare - one that they are no doubt grateful to be putting behind them.
He actually made just over 1,000 gbp.
He also put "massive" bets on football matches.
In total, he risked losing nearly 3m gbp on football but actually made 73,500 gbp profit.
Smaller bets were laid on greyhounds, golf, motor racing, poker, rowing, rugby, snooker, tennis and even Big Brother, Pop Idol and the Eurovision Song Contest
His lay betting on all sports would have won him just short of 4m gbp if every one came up, if they all lost he risked losing 11,837,000 gbp.
He actually made 1,093,981 gbp
Had he won on the 8,215 events on which he bet during the period he would have been 8,043,303 gbp the richer.
His profit was actually just 169,828 gbp.
All rights reserved (c)2007 Johnston Press Digital Publishing
Where's the line on player betting?
How bad is player betting?
From the viewpoint in Flyer nation, the reinstatement of Rick Tocchet was welcome news.
But looking back on what transpired the past couple of years, it makes one wonder just how widespread gambling is - just in-house alone - behind the scenes in the NHL.
Tocchet isn't the first to get mixed up with the wrong crowd, just one of the biggest celebrities.
The question is, how much does betting on baseball, football or basketball by players compromise the integrity of the sport?
No one in an official capacity has really spelled out what is good and what is bad.
One high-priced player on the Flyers a few years back received a reprimand for dealing with a bet-touting service in Florida. He was told to knock it off, but no penalty was forthcoming.
Maybe the league has no right to tell players how to throw their money around. If players want to sell/buy blocks in a Super Bowl score pool at a thousand bucks a pop, what difference does it make? It's comparable to the average Joe dropping five bucks in the office pool.
Still, it would be interesting to see how much betting money winds up beyond clubhouse doors and into the pockets of shady characters.
That's really the only reason Tocchet got busted in the first place. If he had been running a friendly betting sheet out of his locker, probably no one would have cared.
The guess here is that a lot of money changes hands because that's what often happens with people who have a lot of it.
Classy Move
Nice gesture by the New York Islanders to let former head coach Al Arbour stand behind the bench last night for his 1,500th career game, 13 years after he retired.
Current Islander head coach Ted Nolan said there was good motive for his decision to step aside and be an assistant coach for one night.
"It's way more than just ceremony," Nolan told the Associated Press. "You're trying to re-establish your connection with the people here and trying to get the organization where it once was and where it should be. I am a strong believer that you learn from your elders. They're so wise and they have so much experience.'
Change For The Good?
The NHL owners are scheduled to meet in Pebble Beach, Calif. next month and the hot topic will be the anticipated schedule change for next season.
The one they cooked up at the 2005 CBA meetings hasn't gone over big. Teams in the west are particularly miffed because the unbalanced schedule doesn't allow for visits by eastern stars such as Sidney Crosby to western cities on a consistent basis.
No doubt the Flyers will vote to keep things as close as possible to the way they currently are. A whopping 77 of their 82 games will be played in the Eastern time zone this season, including 32 in the Atlantic Division, where 12 of the 16 road games are reachable by bus.
Lindros Legacy
It sounds like Eric Lindros has made it official: he's hanging up the skates.
Philadelphia is where it all started for the former Flyer star and if there ever is a formal news conference to announce his retirement, it will be interesting to hear his take on that whole experience.
Flyer fans will always wonder what could have been if circumstances hadn't worked against the kid. Meddlesome parents, one too many concussions, an adversarial relationship with management ... maybe things could have been different.
Just one Stanley Cup would have made all the difference in the world but that wasn't to be.
The dream died on that fateful night against the Devils in 2000.
Wayne Fish is a sports writer for Calkins Media. E-mail him at wfish@phillyBurbs.com
November 4, 2007 8:11 AM
(c)2007 Copyright Calkins Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
UW sports: No betting, or bottom dollar?
By ANDY BAGGOT
608-252-6175
abaggot@madison.com
If you like to gamble on sports for money - whether it's fantasy football leagues, tournament pools or Internet wagering - you can't be a University of Wisconsin student-athlete, an employee of the athletic department or work as an overseer of UW sports.
But that doesn't mean gambling interests are exempt from having a presence at Badgers sporting events.
At its monthly meeting, the UW Athletic Board last week unanimously adopted recent NCAA legislation on sports wagering. The NCAA defines sports wagering as "placing, accepting or soliciting a wager - on a staff member's or a student-athlete's own behalf or on the behalf of others - of any type with any individual or organization on any intercollegiate, amateur or professional team or contest" in which an entry fee is required and there is an opportunity to win a prize.
Institutional staff members found in violation will be subject to disciplinary or corrective action set forth by the NCAA.
The legislation makes an exception for wagers between schools (such as traditional rivalries) or in conjunction with particular games (such as bowls).
The action taken by the UW Athletic Board seemingly conflicts with the fact the UW Athletic Department benefits from ad revenue received from the Ho-Chunk Nation, which runs multiple gaming sites in the state.
The sponsorship, estimated to be worth $450,000, was arranged through Badger Sports Properties, which owns and manages the multimedia rights for the UW Athletic Department.
Ads for Ho-Chunk Nation can be seen at UW facilities such as the Kohl Center and heard on school-approved broadcasts of Badgers games.
Walter Dickey, a UW law professor and the chairman of the UW Athletic Board, said he has issues with gambling because he finds it morally "not OK" and believes it shouldn't have been legalized.
"But I think the athletic department can contract with legal entities who have involved themselves in legal businesses," he said. "Even though my own personal qualms are what they are, I'm not going to impose them on the university or the department."
UW senior associate athletic director Vince Sweeney acknowledged the gray area separating the two gambling issues.
"But these are respectable, law-abiding operations in our community and we want to provide opportunities to them that are available to others," he said of the tribes. "Yet we need to be sensitive about the politics and the guidelines and precautions that are out there."
According to UW's sponsorship policy, advertising revenue from tobacco interests is prohibited, but alcohol companies and organizations associated with legal gambling must be reviewed by the UW trademark and licensing office on a case-by-case basis.
It's worth noting the University of Minnesota recently received a $12.5 million gift from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux community, $10 million of which will help fund the construction of a new on-campus football stadium.
As for the apparent conflicting messages - UW student-athletes and employees can't participate in, say, a Masters pool if it requires a $1 entry fee and nominal payout, but UW sports can take money from gambling interests - Sweeney said that perception comes with the territory.
"We're constantly subjected to second-guessing of things that we do and we're not surprised that people may differ with the decisions we make," he said. "We try and think them through and don't expect that people agree with all that we do.
"This is a business that's full of gray areas and we try and do our best to make sure what we do is credible and responsive and forward thinking."
Copyright (c) 2007 Wisconsin State Journal
Clean up games MAN OF THE PEOPLE
Eamonn Holmes
We've had scandals in cricket, football, boxing, snooker, racing and now tennis with Andy Murray's casual "Everyone knows it's going on" remark about players throwing matches for cash.
The common denominator is gambling, especially in one-onone sports, and it has grown hugely since online bookies have been plying their trade over the internet.
You can bet on anything these days - first corner in football, first try in rugby or first set in tennis.
So much so that any piece of information coming out of a dressing room before an event about an injury or a personal problem is invaluable to a gambler.
I like to think that the sport I watch is free of life's dark influences. I like to think that sport is pure.
I like the fact that when a national team has a big game or an individual has reached a major final that his country, county or community have been brought together to watch and savour the moment.
Sport binds people, as tightly as a rugby scrum. That's why all governing bodies need to stay ahead of the betting culture.
We have a world body to clamp down on drugs in sport. It's time for a gambling regulator to ensure that from Bangkok to Birmingham sport is kept as corruption-free as possible.
www.people.co.uk
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